Data in a new Government funded school-by-school report for 11-year-olds in England will show that 26 per cent of students left primary school this summer without a proper grasp of both English and math.

Alan Smithers, professor of education at Buckingham University, said failure to achieve the basic standard in primary education could condemn many pupils to a school life and beyond underachieving.

“The key thing in primary education is that children should master the use of words and numbers at a young age – that’s really the basis of all further education,” he said.

“If they are leaving primary school without that confidence and competence they are going to struggle to benefit from secondary education.

“It is very disappointing that in over 1,000 primary schools a large number of children are not reaching the appropriate standard.”

Ministers have already identified the 200 worst-performing primaries and it is thought they will be turned into academies in 2012 under a new leadership team. Another 500 schools will be warned to improve or face similar intervention.

It is thought that 600,000 pupils will take the toughen-up literacy exam at the end of primary school, having replaced the much-maligned existing exam in writing composition which has been heavily criticized by teachers and education stakeholders.

An independent review of assessment in English primary schools said a more focused exam based on fundamental literacy skills would “raise attainment” in these areas and give teachers more freedom to monitor children’s composition throughout the year.